Review: Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone – ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：序

Our emo poster boy returned, now with DAT player in tow. Compare with the earlier entry here.

Just after posting the Gakkou no Kaidan review, I went ahead and watch the first Evangelion remake. 2 hours later, the movie is finished and here is another review, the 2nd for this day.

The green one has now become the brown one.

Story:-
A teenage kid was forced to become a child soldier pilot for a robot by his own father to fight some monsters called ‘Angels’. Things become difficult when it becomes clear that the boy has some ‘problems’ and his colleague-pilots don’t seem to be sane either. Can a trio of problematic robot pilots save the world from devastation?

Well, for this movie there’s only 2 of them for now. Based on the first 6 episodes of the TV series (as claimed in the PDF file inside the torrent), this anime still retains the same story for the most part, with some modifications. Those who have not watched the TV series may enjoy the movie, but for those who do, the bad points of this movie readily become apparent.

The first negative is how some important scenes are simply missing. For example, Shinji’s first day at school where he was punched by Touji. For those who haven’t watched the TV series, they will be in a disadvantage because they will not know exactly why Touji is doing that. The explanation given by Kensuke is simply not enough to explain the context of that scene. There are few others like this such as the incident where Shinji is supposed to go home after rebelling against Misato and others, and each and every omission gives different negative effects on the storyline.

As the consequence of the first point above, the second negative would be the ridiculously high-pace presentation of the storyline, especially the ones that deal with the first 2 episodes of the TV series. This was done by omitting some details that was inside the TV series (like the installation of batteries in Misato’s car) and also reconstructions of some parts of the story (such as the meeting between Shinji and his father for the first time in front of the Unit 01). This was made worse by the fact that the pacing suddenly slowed down right after the second Angel was defeated, because it happened just right after I have accustomed myself with the torrid pace with which the movie started. It feels like slamming the brakes of a car that travels at 100km/h before driving at a more normal pace.

As mentioned above, this retelling of the TV series does several things differently relative to the original story; omitting certain parts of the story (some to the detrimental effect of the movie), adding original elements to it and also retelling existing parts in new light. It was the latter part where this movie has largely succeeded without major troubles. The way NERV deals with the third Angel is so original, it is even better than the version in the TV series.

Character developments are not as good as the ones in the first 6 episodes of the TV series, and the main protagonist is the one that suffered the most while the biggest gainer is Misato. It is really hard to judge this aspect for the time being, because it seems that the subsequent movies will deviate more from the original storyline, and I may have to retract some of what I have written above.

The ‘innovative’ monster is still here…

Character Design:-
Basically the same as my entry for this anime late last year. The Angels has also been redesigned, to mixed effect.

Voice Acting:-
Same as above.

Music:-
The OST seems to be better in this version, but Beautiful World is no Fly Me To The Moon.

…but it now has a brand-new drill.

Animation/Direction:-
The part where this movie has greatly improved upon, the animation in this movie is excellent, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography is the same as the TV series, with the exception of the retelling of the third Angel, which is better. The older animation scenes has been remastered and new cooler animation is done for the scenes that has been retold, like the third Angel incident. The directing is at fault for the horrid overall pacing of this movie, but has done well in other parts.

Actually, if Gainax remake this and change this DAT player into an iPod or even a Zune, I will probably overlook it.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. This movie ends well after a bad start. Now waiting for the next instalment this year, hoping that the strong ending that this movie has can be continued.

So that’s how the contraption that Asuka wears all the time looks like.